I’m recovering from duty, yesterday, at the Drastic show, as an attendant at ring three of horse (hack) judging. A whitefella ethnic festival. My boss was a professional horse judge, at least eighty, who had driven down from Disaster the night before, who spent seven hours at ring three in blazing sun, awarding ribbons, prior to the hail at five p.m., that slowed proceedings.

Both dogs, an Aussie brown dog, that is, a brown dog who looks like he slept under a dripping sump, and a coolie with collie dominant, performed credtably in the dog jump contest. The younger, the collie, made four good attempts at the wall, up to five six, but was well bested by a kelpie who did seven foot nine. Whoa.

I’m away up the Hunter for a short break for a few days with my beloved. Huge smiles from the locals as the rain rolled in yesterday, still overcast and showers today. Wondering where to put the car if the hail comes 🙁

Yesterday – Rain. A bit of hail, pebbly stuff. Lots of thunder. Every time it hails in Armidale you wait for it to turn into a national disaster. This time it didn’t. But I stayed off the computer anyway.
Reading Ian Kershaw’s Hitler. 1936-1945 Nemesis. As brilliant as people say it is. Am still waiting for vol 1, which is still in the mail, but it doesn’t matter if you read them the wrong way round. Unless you know absolutely nothing about Hitler.

Our internet at home fell over about 11.30am yesterday. For a cyber-junkie like me, that was an anormous PITA. Admittedly, I got more marking done and the top dressing on the lawn went down before significant rain.

I rang Telstra and fo course the automated system err… fell short. I suspect it’s a problem with the cable modem but as it turns out they can’t send anyone until Wednesday, and only if someone can be there between 1pm and 5PM .. ugh

What was interesting is that when I got onto a live operator, the sound was dreadful — very faint and with distortion so serious that you might think you were listening to a crossed line. Had I not been trying to report and address a fault, the farcical situation would have been very funny.

The first attempt was unsuccessful as the female operator plainly couldn’t understand me and I could just barely get what she was saying. I tried suggesting she call me back but that didn’t work and so after waiting five minutes, I called again.

Again the line was dreadful (albeit marginally better). From the chap’s accent, the call was clearly being taken in the Phillippines, which, on inquiry, the chap confirmed.

I felt vaguely guilty that I was asking a chap in a third world country that had just experienced the worst tropical storm in history right after an earthquake and had lost 10,000 people or so to help me out because my internet had gone down. Trying to make out his accent and to speak slowly and clearly enough for him to get my details was really painful. I wondered whether the poor line reflected the serious adverse weather event but he assured me that he was in the northern Phillippines rather than the central part. I was sceptical that Haiyan wasn’t relevant. Ah … outsourcing.

@11 Fran I spent much time on hold to Telstra over the weekend too. And the internationally based ESL support staff were also very hard to understand on the poor quality lines. A tip, if the carousel is a pain to navigate, just don’t ever push the first button or give the first response to “just tell us in a few words what the problem is”… say “operator”, or “operator please” and in a few goes you will be transferred to what the Ferengi call a “Huu-maan”.

Fran Barlow and drsussancalvin:
I hate outsourcing and loathe the crooks who practice it – because, in the long run, they are stealing money out of my pocket to make their business(??) temporarily profitable.

That said, I’ve always had good service from Filipinas/-os actually doing the job (even if it is at pittance wages); maybe I’m a bit familiar with their accent and able to respond immediately and smoothly to their questions. The accent that really throws me is that of younger Londoners – heck, is that Akkadian or Pictish or Scythian you are speaking, young fellow?

It’s Monday and I went to the service at the local war memorial. just a few ex-service personnel, a few other locals and the local primary school students and their teachers. The names of the 15 local fellows who died in wars was read out; the service was brief and without sabre-rattling.

One noticeable difference between now and when I was a schoolkid: Now, the Minute’s Silence is silent. Back then, you could just barely hear the suppressed sobbing of a widow or mother or father during the Silence …. maybe that’s because in the past half century, very few Australians actually went to war …. a situation that will change when the American protective umbrella is folded up and taken back home.

Lowering storms etc. Got vol 1 of the Hitler biography. Put aside Vol 2 and started vol 1.
Re Telstra. I just keep on asking put me on to some one whose English I can understand, until they do. And I have terrible trouble because I’m partially deaf.